 | The Literary Works of James Smetham |  |
THE PAINTER AND THE POET
For love of beauty, not applause,
The painter in his note-book draws
A daisy or a thistle:
Some plumy, perishable thing
Beneath gray hedgerows sheltering,
While March winds rush and whistle.
The painter in his note-book draws
A daisy or a thistle:
Some plumy, perishable thing
Beneath gray hedgerows sheltering,
While March winds rush and whistle.
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So by his light and loving line,
Where rapid strength and beauty twine,
He makes a weed immortal,
Draws forth its soul, transformed by thought,
And leaves the weed, a thing of nought,
To perish on mind's portal.
Where rapid strength and beauty twine,
He makes a weed immortal,
Draws forth its soul, transformed by thought,
And leaves the weed, a thing of nought,
To perish on mind's portal.
Even so the innate poet's eye
Sees comedy and tragedy,
Stern ode or carol soothing,
Where other folks see none, and he
Stamps beauty and eternity
On nought or next to nothing.
Sees comedy and tragedy,
Stern ode or carol soothing,
Where other folks see none, and he
Stamps beauty and eternity
On nought or next to nothing.
Sept. 15, 1869.
| The Literary Works of James Smetham | |